A Wedding at Ruby Lake

Welcome to beautiful Ruby Lake, where the wedding of the decade is about to take place. In twenty-four hours, Ariana Westwood, eldest daughter of the influential Claire Westwood, is set to marry prominent investment banker Jackson O'Connell on the deck of her family's palatial cottage. But with the arrival of a very special guest, the perfect wedding begins to seem like the perfect disaster. As everyone connected to the wedding partyfrom the bride's sister, to the maid of honor, to the wedding plannerwait to discover if the wedding will actually take place, each of them find that this may be their chance to discover their own happiness.

Author Jennifer Hayward was the 2012 winner of Harlequin's So You Think You Can Write contest. Check out her debut novel, The Divorce Party, available now!

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Chapter Five

Felicity Kane, maid of honour to the Westwood wedding that might or might not happen tomorrow, stared at the gaping hole in her jewellery pouch, her stomach dropping along with it. She was sure that hadn't been there before. Positive actually, because upon their arrival in Ruby Lake when Ariana had handed her the two exquisite gold bands she and Jackson had chosen as their wedding rings, explaining that the best man Nick couldn't be trusted with them, she'd tucked them in there for safe keeping.

She rummaged around some more. The rings were not there.

Sinking to her knees, she rifled through the overnight bag the jewellery pouch had been tucked into, underwear and toiletries flying onto the floor. Nothing. She turned her room upside-down searching for them.

The rings were gone.

Felicity was not a particularly religious type, in fact she hadn't set foot in a church in ten years and likely wouldn't again after the wedding. But this seemed like a sign. Were Ari and Jackson over?

She stuck her index finger in her mouth and clamped down on the perfect manicure she'd had done this morning. On the outside chance Ari did marry Jackson, she needed the damn rings. Or a suitable replica thereof.

Today.

She threw on jeans, grabbed her purse and headed for the marina. The nearest major town that would have a jewellery store of the calibre she needed was a twenty-minute boat ride. It would close in an hour. She ran toward her parents' slip at full speed.

The slip was empty. She'd forgotten her father had gone to visit the McCarthys.

She pulled up, huffing and puffing, her weekly Body Attack class not nearly enough to stem the hysteria building in her. The family who owned the slip beside theirs, she knew all too well. Their speedboat was there. Maybe they still kept the keys in the same place ?

Sliding her hand into the secret compartment under the dash, she touched cold metal. Amazing. An hour tops. That's all she'd need the boat for. Act now and apologize later. That was her strategy.

She untied the boat, slid the key into the ignition and brought her roaring to life. A male voice yelled something that was drowned out by the motor. Fully committed, Felicity reversed the boat out of the slip. A solid force came flying through the air and landed in the boat. She whirled around, grabbing the metal sides. "What the"

A set of gray-blue eyes blazed back at her. "What the hell do you think you're doing stealing my boat?"

Her heart rate flat-lined. She would recognize those eyes anywhere.

"Felicity?"

Oh, dear Lord, not today. Not him.

Not ever.

Joshua Peters reached down, scooped her out of the driver's seat with one muscular arm and deposited her in the passenger seat. Then he took control of the boat. Felicity contemplated a dive back onto the dock but they were a good ten feet away now. Joshua set a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back into the seat."I don't think so, Felicity. That's a little nuts, even for you."

Oh, no, it wasn't. Not if it meant escaping an incredibly awkward meeting with her hottest one-night stand ever.

Joshua pulled back on the throttle so the boat slowed to a low purr. He flicked her a glance. "Care to tell me where you're headed?"

Canada Day three years ago flashed through her head. Searingly hot temperatures, lots of cold beer and the best, steamiest sex she'd ever had. She swallowed hard. "I was only borrowing the boat. I have an emergency."

"What kind of emergency?"

"I'm the maid of honour in Ariana's wedding tomorrow and I've lost the rings."

"You lost the rings?"

"Thanks. You're making me feel better." She eyed his grim expression. "Let me take the boat. I swear I'll bring it right back."

"I don't think so."

"Josh"

"I came looking for you the next morning, Felicity. I thought we had something special."

Her fingernails dug into the leather seat. "I don't think we should do this."

"Oh, I think we should," he shot back. "I'll take you to get the rings, Felicity, then we're going to talk."

She sank her teeth into her bottom lip."It was one night. Ancient history. We should let it go."

He ignored her, pushing the throttle forward until they were hurtling across the brilliant blue water. It was too loud to talk, the roar of the motor drowning out everything but her total and complete awareness of him.

They docked at Derringer Falls. Felicity practically ran into the jewellery store, chose the first two rings that even remotely looked like the missing ones, and guessed Jackson's and Ariana's sizes. The sooner she got rid of Joshua the better.

Outside the store, Joshua pulled her to a halt in front of the window. Felicity shot him a blistering look. "We aren't talking here."

"No, we aren't," he agreed, stepping into her personal space. Before she could guess his intent, before she could react at all, he leaned down and kissed her. Not the we're on a street corner and people are walking by kind of kiss, more like the French photographer sweep her away, lay one on her ones she had plastered across her apartment wall.

Felicity was a closet romantic.

And man, Joshua Peters could kiss. That hadn't changed.

She pushed weakly against his chest when it was over, her cheeks firing with colour at the applause they were given by half a dozen bystanders.

"What was that?" she murmured, taking a step back.

His eyes filled with some nameless emotion. "Me proving a point. There was nothing 'one night' about it, Felicity. If you'd stayed, you might have figured that out."

Mrs. Danbury, the mayor's wife, came up to them, shot the bag in Felicity's hand a knowing glance and gave Joshua a kiss on the cheek. "Congratulations, you two. What a lovely, lovely surprise."

It took a second for Felicity's brain to compute. "Oh, no. We aren't" But Mrs. Danbury was already gone, toddling off toward the post office.

"Shewe" Felicity started after her. Joshua grabbed her arm. "Let her go. If we deny it, she'll only gossip more."

She'd prefer to set the record straight. But she trailed along beside him to the boat because Joshua was a force of nature and always had been. Getting caught up in him had always been her fear and when she had that night, it had scared her to death. So she'd picked up her stuff the morning after and left before she'd had to analyse any of it.

Joshua bypassed the marina. She darted a look at him. "Where are we going?"

"To my place. It's not like you have a rehearsal dinner to go to, is it?"

True. The rehearsal dinner had been cancelled.

Joshua opened a bottle of wine and promised dinner after that. They drank it standing at the railing looking out over the lake, the sun casting everything in that hypnotic, famous Ruby Lake soft pink glow.

"Why did you leave?" he asked quietly.

"You were on the rebound, Josh. I was only a one-night thing."

He shook his head. "I had a thing for you forever, Felicity. You just kept running away."

She turned to face him, her heart taking flight. "You did?"

"Always. You stole my boat deliberately today, didn't you?"

"It was the first boat I saw, Joshua."

"Liar."

He kissed her again. Dinner went the way of ancient history. And the sun sank deep into the trees behind Ruby Lake.

***

The night before the Westwood wedding, the Ruby Lake gossip mill had reached a fever pitch. Georgia Westwood had been found, apparently in a far greater mood than she'd disappeared in; the bride still hadn't appeared and the word was if Ariana didn't get hitched, Felicity Kane and Joshua Peters just might. The only thing to do was to tune in tomorrow to find out.